Editorial Content

Journalists Can Make a Choice

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Article in FAIR by Staff, 8/27/25

Headline:  “On the Ethics of Embedding With Génocidaires”

“On Sunday, August 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a dramatic announcement: After 674 days of barring foreign media from Gaza, Israel was planning to begin staging guided tours, under Israeli military control, for embedded members of the foreign press. . .”

“Just seven hours later, Israel assassinated the beloved, world-renowned Palestinian Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, along with five other journalists, in a targeted airstrike as they sheltered in a tent for members of the press just outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/on-the-ethics-of-embedding-with-genocidaires/

Acceptable Media Bias?

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Article in The New Republic by Perry Bacon, 8/22/25

Headline:  “The Media Should Be Biased—Against Authoritarianism”

Subhead:  “UMass Amherst journalism historian Kathy Roberts Forde says the news media has helped both entrench and erode authoritarianism in the U.S. in the past and should lean into its pro-democracy history now.”

“The news media has a powerful role in democracy, even if it often doesn’t acknowledge that, says Kathy Roberts Forde, a journalism historian who teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. . .”

“Forde argues that today’s Republican Party is using some of the authoritarian tactics that were employed in the American South in the twentieth century and by autocratic leaders abroad today. So she argues journalists can and should make those connections, even if that leads to Republicans attacking them as biased. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/199471/media-biased-against-authoritarianism

 

Remember Media Duopoly Rules?

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Article in Poynter by Al Tompkins, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna would require an overhaul of FCC ownership rules”

Subhead: “The proposed sale would exceed the FCC’s 39% cap, igniting debate among broadcasters, unions and press groups”

“Nexstar announced Tuesday that it intends to buy Tegna for $6.2 billion — a deal that has been rumored for weeks. To pull off what would be the biggest change in TV broadcast ownership history, however, the Federal Communications Commission would have to relax rules limiting how much of the country one company can reach with its over-the-air signal.. . ”

Read the full Article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/nexstar-tegna-fcc-ownership-rules-media-consolidation/

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Article in Freepress by Staff, 8/19/25

Headline: “Nexstar’s Unlawful Acquisition of TEGNA Is a Bad Deal for the Public “

“. . .The newly combined Nexstar entity, if allowed, would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs). The deal would violate the national broadcast-ownership cap, which the FCC lacks authority to increase or eliminate, as Free Press recently discussed in comments opposing the FCC’s proposed reexamination of this law. . .”

Read the full press release at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/nexstars-unlawful-acquisition-tegna-bad-deal-public

Does the Shoe Fit?

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Article in The New Republic by Greg Sargent, 8/18/25

Headline:  “Trump’s Angry New ‘Dictator’ Rant to Media Alarms Experts: ‘Wake Up!’ “

Subhead:  “As Trump’s ugly ramblings about his militarization of cities get worse, prominent legal observer Joyce Vance explains how and why this is all heading to a very dark place—and what we must do to stop it.”

“With President Trump’s crackdown intensifying in Washington, D.C., he lashed out angrily at the media for describing him as a ‘dictator.’ In this same rant, he did not reassure D.C. residents and exaggerated wildly about crime there, suggesting people should thank him for his efforts. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/199192/trump-angry-new-dictator-rant-media-alarms-experts-wake-up

First Amendment Wins!

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Article in Media Matters by Staff, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Media Matters wins preliminary injunction against retaliatory FTC investigation”

Subhead:  “Judge writes that the ‘case presents a straightforward First Amendment violation’ “

“. . .Angelo Carusone, Chairman and President of Media Matters, issued the following statement:

“ ‘The court’s ruling demonstrates the importance of fighting over folding, which far too many are doing when confronted with intimidation from the Trump administration. This case is not just about the campaign to punish and silence Media Matters, however. It is a critical test for whether the courts will allow any administration – from any political party – to bully media and non-profit organizations through illegal abuses of power. We will continue to stand up and fight for the First Amendment rights that protect every American.”. . .”

Read the the full article at”

https://www.mediamatters.org/justice-civil-liberties/media-matters-wins-preliminary-injunction-against-retaliatory-ftc

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Article in Raw Story by Matthew Chapman, 8/15/25

Headline:  ” ‘It should alarm all Americans’: Judge blasts Trump’s FTC for retaliating against watchdog”

“A federal judge issued a scathing takedown on Friday of President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission, shutting down their investigation of the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ftc-media-matters/

Without Local News . . .?

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Article in Poynter, by Kim Kleman, 8/15/25

Headline:  “Opinion | After 100,000 stories, the lesson is clear: America needs more local news”

Subhead:  “From exposing corruption to filling food pantries, local reporting via Report for America is driving change in communities nationwide”

“. . .sheer quantity of local news is important to bolster newsrooms across America. No, with every one of these stories, we’re reminded of what good local coverage does: introduces neighbor to neighbor, holds city hall and the school board accountable, distills how federal actions affect local businesses, and informs folks that the food pantry’s shelves are bare, so residents know to help fill them. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2025/report-for-america-local-news-stories/

D.C. & Media

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Article in FAIR by Pete Tucker, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Trump Occupying DC: WaPo Used to Be Disgusted”

“. . .With DC’s self-governance under threat, the city’s paper of record is positioned to play a critical role. Right off the bat, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher sounded the alarm about Trump’s actions, telling the New Yorker (8/11/25), ‘This is troops-in-the-streets, shades-of-authoritarian-rule bad.’

“The next day, however, Fisher sounded like a different person in Post column (8/12/25). Trump was transformed from authoritarian to ‘astute-but-flawed leader’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/trump-occupying-dc-wapo-used-to-be-disgusted/

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Article in Media Matters by Gideon Taaffee & Chloe Simon, 8/14/25

Headline:  “Right-wing media cheer for Trump to deploy National Guard to other American cities after DC”

Subhead:  “TPUSA’s Charlie Kirk: ‘We got a big military. We should be willing to use it.’ “

“After President Donald Trump announced on August 11 that he is deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and suggested he would do it in other major U.S. cities too, many in right-wing media celebrated the announcement, claiming D.C. should be a ‘test case’ and arguing that ‘we need full military occupation’ of other ‘problematic cities’ like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. . .”

Red the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-cheer-trump-deploy-national-guard-other-american-cities-after-dc

Unbalanced Fairness

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Update

Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Lisa Armstrong, 8/6/25

Headline:   “When Neutrality Is a Constraint”

Subhead:  “Journalism in the 1930s failed to communicate the danger of Hitler’s rise. Are we repeating the same mistake now?”

“I do not know what Brandenburg was like in 1940, when the smoke and smell of the first burning bodies drifted across the town. But on a blue-skied day in May 2019, as I sat outside what was once the Brandenburg State Hospital, I was struck by the sounds coming in—the shrieks and laughter of children from a nearby playground washing over the remains of a place where Nazis killed at least nine thousand people.

It was the proximity that disturbed me, the fact that ordinary people had lived so close to such evil. The question that I would continue to ask myself over the two-week trip through Germany and Poland was: Why didn’t journalists do a better job of warning people, by giving them the information they could have used to act? . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/when-neutrality-is-a-constraint.php

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Article in The New Republic by Michael Tomasky, 8/4/25

Headline:  “The Media’s Urge to Be “Fair” to Trump Is Killing the Republic”

Subhead:  “Seventy percent of Republicans understand that Trump’s tariffs will raise prices. Why is the press acting like they’re a huge success?”

“The New York Times remains, by any measure, our greatest newspaper. As much as liberals complain about the way it covers Donald Trump—which I did pretty aggressively during last year’s campaign—it still behooves us to remember that a lot of what we know about bad stuff Trump has done, we know from the Times. . .”

“However, it’s in the way the paper chooses to explain and interpret our nation’s politics that it so often falters. The excess of caution, the relentless urge to be ‘fair,’ the no-doubt painstaking search for the perfect headline word that will appear objective.… Oy, those headlines. ‘Trump, Claiming Weak Jobs Numbers Were ‘Rigged,’ Fires Labor Official.’ Really? ‘Claiming’? Without mentioning that Trump offered no evidence to support this ‘claim’?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/198756/media-fair-trump-killing-republic-tariffs-economy

Senators ask FCC to end Hunt?

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Article in Reuters by David Shepardson, 7/16/25

Headline:  “Senators urge FCC chair to end probes into CBS News, other media outlets”

“Two Democratic U.S. senators on Wednesday urged Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to end investigations into CBS News and other media outlets.

“Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Ed Markey, in a letter to Carr first reported by Reuters, urged the commission ‘to end its partisan attacks on CBS and cease interfering with the judgment of independent news organizations. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/senators-urge-fcc-chair-end-probes-into-cbs-other-outlets-2025-07-16/

Media Make Frank Unhappy

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Article in Raw Story by Robert Davis, 7/14/25

Headline:  ” ‘They’re pissed’: CNN hosts slam Trump for losing control of ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ “

“CNN host Abby Phillip and reporter Donie O’Sullivan slammed President Donald Trump on Monday night over his inability to speak to his base following the latest scandal.

“Last week, Justice Department officials issued an unsigned memo contradicting many points of the Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theory that Trump and his surrogates have parroted for multiple years. The move set off a firestorm within the MAGA base and has become a political liability for the Trump administration.

” ‘Perhaps it’s not surprising that his ‘MAGA Frankenstein’ doesn’t believe him,’ Phillip said. . .”

Read the full story at:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2673207755/